Bearing assemblies are typically circular in shape, and generally comprise rolling elements sandwiched between raceways in bearing rings. Rolling elements take many forms, including spherical balls, rollers or various other configurations, such as cone-shaped tapered rollers or barrel-shaped spherical rollers. In order to provide proper anti-friction operation and intended function, including maintaining rolling contact and supporting a specified load, bearings require that some level of concentricity and bearing race circularity be maintained from the outer radial surface of the bearing assembly to the inner radial surface of the bearing assembly. In addition, a clearance equal to or above 0 is typically needed in order that the load zone of the bearing is not spread to the entire circumference of the bearing. Where concentricity and circularity is not maintained, or where there are multiple load zones on a single bearing owing to improper clearance or bearing ring distortion, increased fatigue, noise and vibration, and premature failure of the assembly may result.
In designing a bearing and housing assembly, bearing retention in the housing, bearing clearance, concentricity and, where dissimilar materials are used, operating temperature and variations in coefficients of thermal expansion must be considered. In particular, where the housing is of an irregular shape, such as a triangle or a general non-defined geometry, special attention must be provided to distortion of the typically circular bearing shape. U.S. Pat. No. 3,512,855 “Low Stress Bearing” discloses stress relief features in the bearing outer ring and various concentric assemblies in order to reduce stress in the bearing raceway. A solution to address bearing retention and shape distortion in non-concentric housings is needed.